"I want to make a couple of things clear. Number one, we still need more legislative authorities from Congress for the President to be able to act on that [unlocking assets]," Kirby said during a press briefing.
US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said earlier in the day that the Group of Seven countries should work together to explore different approaches to utilizing frozen Russian assets, including seizing and using them as collateral to borrow on global markets.
Russia said it would view any move to seize or use its frozen assets as an "escalation of economic aggression" and would respond harshly.